I have a general idea of the pros and cons of each direction, but they seem pretty even to me. That said, there are many more NOBO hikers than there are SOBO, and I'm trying to figure out why. Do people fear the weather in the North? Are the black flies a huge deterrent? In the end HYOH, but I'm just trying to get a grasp on why one direction is so disproportionately more popular than the other.